French diplomat held for sexually abusing daughter

The French diplomat Pascal Mazurier, 39, who is facing charges of rape on his own daughter, was taken into custody by Bangalore police in the early hours of Tuesday following the official clarifications by the ministry of external affairs.

Police commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji told HT that he has asked his officials to take the accused into the custody as the Bangalore police have received the MEA clarifications on the diplomatic immunity of the official in the late night.

Now the police took him to High Grounds police station, where senior officials are grilling him. The medical report on the sexual abuse on the minor girl, from the Bowring Hospital has proved the charges. The cloths of both Pascal and his daughter, which they wore on the day of incident, were sent to FSL tests and police are waiting for the report.

Commissioner Mirji said that the accused will be produced before the magistrate court by evening.

The union home ministry on Monday asked the Karnataka Police to approach the French consulate general in Bangalore to get access to Pascal Mazurier, accused of raping his three-year-ten months old daughter.

The Centre’s move coincided with France refusing to interfere in the case and paved the way for Mazurier’s arrest. France said Indian law would take its course, as the accused did not hold a diplomatic passport and enjoy no immunity.

According to an official source, Mazurier, 39, a consular agent, has not come out of the consulate complex following registration of a case by the police on June 14 on a complaint filed by his wife Suja Jones, from Kerala.

Jones, who hails from Kerala, married Mazurier more than a decade ago in France. The couple also has two sons.

Jones told the police she doubted her husband’s intentions and asked her domestic help on June 13 to keep an eye on him when he came home for lunch. The domestic help reportedly told Jones that Mazurier spent nearly two hours with their daughter in a locked room.

Jones saw her daughter crying and took her to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences. Later, a medical examination at the Baptist Hospital confirmed sexual assault on the child

Jones, who has also accused Mazurier of domestic violence, has requested that under no circumstances should he be allowed custody of their three children, who are French citizens.